The weather was warm, sunny and consistent throughout the week and most of the walleye action was focused around main lake rock and sand in the 15 – 25 ft. zone. There were some fish caught deeper and some shallower, but 90% were caught in mid depth zones.

We don’t keep stats on what form of bait fish were caught with, but I would guess that 80% of the walleyes over 24 in. this week were caught with big jigs and Berkley Gulp Alive plastics. These baits flat out cover water and select for big fish when trolled at around 1 mph. I cannot tell you how many skeptical guests have been converted within 15 minutes to the Gulp program. Fished with braid and a heavy fluoro leader, the bites are easy to feel and the hook up percentage on small fish is low, but on big fish is high. It is just a fun way to fish! Miss a bite, drop your rod tip back, let the bait settle, twitch once, and half the time you get bit again.

A few groups chased pike for part of a day and their results were also respectable. For the week we had, 6 over 37, with 2 – 39s,   1 – 40, and 1 – 41.5.

The interesting part about this week’s walleye bite is that more than 75% of it came from areas that we weren’t fishing consistently during previous seasons. Many of our “go to” spots for mid July were duds this week. Most groups caught their biggest fish on spots they had never seen before, even though they have been with us for 10 or more years. The winning strategy was to identify a wind based bite consistent with a depth and to duplicate it. The result was that we had many, many big walleye photos taken with new backgrounds.

It was a bit of a schizophrenic week for locations and patterns, but the trend was generally shallower than normal, with most production coming from 12 – 20 f.o.w. We did catch some nice fish down deep, but they had very little company. If you needed to catch some eaters, the deep side of the weeds was the ticket. The weeds did produce some nice fish, but there were also some extremely good catches made on main lake shallow rock. Both chunk rock and massive boulder sections on main lake islands in 10 – 20 ft. turned large numbers of big walleyes for guides pulling bouncers and spinners or big jigs and Gulp. One of the best big fish bites of the week was a windy day on the top of a main lake sand break in 14 – 16 ft. Really, the walleyes were all over the map and many were suspended, which is always a challenge.

For the week we had 32 walleyes over 27 in., including 3 – 28s, and 1 – 29. Volume was so variable that an average really doesn’t mean anything. One group would put 35 walleyes over 18 on the page in a morning and another would put 5. In the afternoon, the results were opposite. It was one of those weeks when you came back to the lodge with no idea of how well the rest of the boats had done. It usually took at least 10 experiments to find a pattern for the day and that pattern either worked for the rest of the day or it didn’t. One of our guides had a career best volume day at the same time that some of the senior guides did not do so well. As a group, we were all over and we used those experiences to hone in on transient bites as they developed.

We had several groups spend at least ½ of their days chasing pike this past week. Volume was good in shallow weed beds, but there were not many monsters boated. We had a few hi 30s and one 44 in. giant for the week.

Overall, it was a really nice weather week to be on Lac Seul with lots of sunshine. Sometimes that helped the bite and at other times it made it a bit more of a challenge. The take away is that even with flat calm water and transient patterns, the sheer number of big walleyes present in the main lake basins of Lac Seul can help turn poor conditions into a great fishing day.

The walleyes continued to invade the shallows as we experienced a prolonged and stable stretch of sunny and warm weather. Volume increased dramatically with guide sheets averaging 40 walleyes over 18 in. per boat each day. The highest daily total reported was 100. Overall numbers for big fish were also good considering that there weren’t that many boats on the water. For the week, we had 30 over 27 in., including 6 – 28s.

Walleye production was split between live minnows on light jigs and big plastics trolled with speed. When the fish were aggressive, the guides moved fast. When the bite slowed, so did we.

We did spend time working the new weed beds for big pike this week. The volume was good, but we weren’t as successful boating the big ones. For the week, we had 7 over 37 including 2 – 38s and 1 – 40.

The bass fishing season is effectively over for us until next year.

If the lodge had been full, it would have been another great week for production and stats. As it was, we had a great 4th of July celebration with a bonfire, hot dogs, smores, and a fireworks show. Both weather and fishing have become much more stable and predictable and the long term forecast calls for more of the same.

The morning bite was definitely better than the afternoon bite, especially when winds were light. Big jigs with Gulp Alive plastics trolled at speed (.8 – 1.2 mph) were a key tool to find pods of walleyes, and they also helped select for some of the bigger fish. I would guess that more than half of the fish over 27 were caught on plastic this week. Deeper water, main lake sand, and rock produced fewer and fewer fish as the sand flats and areas on the deep side of the weed beds heated up. Most of our fish were caught between 10 and 15 feet this week. As the activity level tapered off in the afternoons, most groups shifted towards lighter jigs (1/4 and 1/8s) and minnows to put just a few more in the boat.

One product that I have found that made a big difference for us this year is a beefed up jig for plastics. I found a jig designed for salt water at Bass Pro shops made by Offshore Angler. The jig features a stout hook with a long shank that works very well with the big plastics. Even though the hook is much heavier than a standard jig hook, it is still very sharp. We have been using mostly 3/8 so far this year, but it won’t be long before we try out the 1/2s as well.

The sunny and warm conditions along with the maturing of the weed beds also triggered a very good big pike bite for anglers who spent some time chasing them this week. Spoons, spinnerbaits, and big in line spinners produced best in and around the weed beds. For the week, we had 13 over 37 in., including 4 – 40s, 2 – 41s, and 1 – 42.

The bass bite faded towards the end of the week and I expect the season will be effectively over by the end of this week. For the week we had 42 over 18 in., with 6 – 19s and 2 – 20s. Most of those fish were caught in the first half of the week.

Overall, it was great weather, awesome fishing, and an excellent week to be on Lac Seul.

When you write a weekly fishing report, it is tough to stay out of the rut of the same old plot and story line. Fortunately, the new and improved anti-weather patterns for Northwest Ontario provide me with countless choices of discussion topics. This week, we discovered that days and days of rain and overcast conditions after a super early spring, send almost all of the fish that we care about into deeper water and in some cases, much deeper water. The Pike fishing was horrible, Bass fishing was tough, and the walleye fishing was OK, if you worked really, really hard and were smart about it.

The Bass Details: It has been a roller coaster ride for my Texas bass fisherman as they have watched my fishing reports over the past few weeks. It started out bad with a super early ice out, there was a respite and some hope after the cold fronts that appeared to delay the spawn, but the inches of rain raised the lake by 2.5 ft. and the mayflies hatched, and the wind blew, and the water was dark, and it was tough to catch bass. For the week we had 59 over 18 in., including 8 – 19s. The fishing was way off and it was not because of effort. There are virtually no bass in 0 – 4 ft. right now and when you have any conditions that make bass fishing difficult for fish down deep, then our production suffers. We got it all this week: Wind, rain, no sun, and mayflies equals – Not as many bass as you would be hoping for.

Overall, it was a very difficult week and yet it remains one of the most highly requested times of the year and for good reason. The Bass fishing is usually phenomenal, pike fishing can be good, and the walleyes are normally predictable. Once again this year, we have seen how dramatically extreme weather can affect our fishing patterns.

It was another extreme weather week on Lac Seul. The weekend began with a high pressure system that resulted in 5 days of brilliant sunshine and virtually no wind. Lake surface temps soared and the highest reading I found at 5:50 PM on Thursday was 79.2 and that was on the main lake. The result is that 29 in. walleyes were caught in 2 ft. of water on a pike spinnerbait and many small to medium sized walleyes were caught on main lake summer sand structure as deep as 35 ft. When the walleyes are scattered, windless conditions usually make for a tough bite and we did experience some slow afternoons. At the same time, these weather conditions did kick the Bass bite into high gear and the shallows filled overnight. It is already full on bass fishing season and the fish are bigger than last year.

The weather did break today with a storm that dropped over an inch of rain. The walleye bite today was as good as it gets with guide boats reporting as many as 20 walleyes over 24 in. Today’s bump helped even out some of the slower days earlier in the week and we finished with 33 walleyes over 27 in., including 8 – 28s, and 2 – 29s. It was once again a week where the daily average doesn’t mean much, because when the walleye bite was tough, the guides went bass fishing and when the walleye bite was on, they stacked them. Overall total guide sheets averaged 35 fish per boat per day.

There was some time spent chasing pike this week and results were fairly good. With the crazy early season, the pike are definitely scattered across the lake. With several days of blazing sunshine, we did see the bait fish move shallow and many pike followed including the big ones. Surprisingly, the weed beds are at the surface in the back bays and are already 2 – 3ft tall in 5 -8 ft. of water on the main lake. These early summer or late spring spots produced 12 over 37 in., including 3 – 38s, 1 – 39, 1 – 40, and 1 – 42.5.

The bass bite was not so surprising. With the sky rocketing surface temps, the bass moved into the skinny water in mass. We stopped counting bass over 17 in. because the number was ridiculous. For the week we had 123 over 18 in., including 32 – 19s, and 4 – 20s. Cranks, jigs and twisters, and topwaters all turned some fish, but tubes were by far the most effective for the big ones.

When I reviewed the annual stats from last year, I was surprised to learn that 2011 was the peak production year for Bass over 18 in., bass over 20 in., pike over 40 in., and yet was also within 50 fish of being the top year for walleyes over 24 in. From an operations stand point, something should give. If you are chasing bass, your walleye numbers should go down. If you are spending time hunting big pike, then your walleye and bass numbers should suffer. This week was a perfect example of how the guide crew has managed to maximize production across the board over the last few seasons. When the walleye bite is tough, we shift gears and fish bass or chase gators. The deeper our information base becomes, the more we choose to offer our guests more flexible options that tend to result in better overall seasonally adjusted production. The weather is always going to be a factor and more often than not, it is going to be extreme up here, but as a group, we have learned to adjust and maximize our results.

I should probably write two fishing reports for this week, because the first half of the week was so different than the second half. About once every 5 years we have a weather system blow through in May that is so big that it changes the fishing completely. That system came through this week. It began on Saturday and continued through Monday with strong northeast winds gusting to 30, sustained heavy rain, and frigid temps. For those that could stand it, the fishing was OK during the storm, but the post frontal bite was brutal. We had over 3 inches of rain, the lake level shot up ½ a foot, and we nearly lost our road coming in to the lodge. Other than that it was a great week of fishing. And I mean that, because despite the terrible conditions, the guide crew battled through and turned surprisingly good results.

The average fishing report doesn’t mean that much this week but overall guide boats logged an average of 30 walleyes over 18 in. per day. The highest daily total was 64. For the week, we had 34 walleyes over 27 in., including 5 – 28s, and 2 – 29s. Four years ago, I would have called a mid-summer week with 20 over 27 in. a good week. I was actually quite surprised when I crunched the numbers. It didn’t feel that good in my boat. The picture became more clear when I reviewed the photos for the week. It is pretty tough to look happy about the picture of your big walleye with your hood on. It was still a tough May in northwest Ontario. If your guide has you catching fish out of 3 ft. of water on spring spots and catching walleyes out of 30 ft. of water on summer spots on the same day, then he is working hard and you know that the conditions are tough.

We are in full transition for Pike fishing and the numbers reflect the weather conditions. For the week, we had limited effort for pike that resulted in 14 fish over 37 in., including 2 – 39s, and 3 – 40s. When spring comes a month early and then winter returns, you just can’t expect to catch many big pike after a monster cold front and we didn’t.

The big surprise for me is that despite the advanced calendar, the bass have somehow managed to put themselves into a seasonal stall. I flat out told my guests that we should expect to catch bass and we flat out didn’t. They are not shallow, they are not where they were last year, and they did not get the memo that the ice went out mid-April. We caught a few nice bass while walleye fishing, but there is no real bass bite on right now. When the change happens, it will be major and sudden!

The long range forecast is full of sunshine and temps into the 70s. With that, I am expecting a return to a more normal spring, but I am going to try to stop making predictions about fish behavior and movement. They are going to go where they go and based on our history, we are going to find them.

It was a mild winter across most of North America and it led to an exceptionally early ice out on Lac Seul. The last ice left the main lake on April 15 and the spring continued on at an accelerated pace until this past week when we cooled down again. Main lake temps are 55 and the shallow water bays have bounced from the 50s to the 60s and back. The water levels are a foot lower than average, but we are still able to easily travel the Stix at speed. With rain in the forecast, we should see lake levels steadily increase over the next week.

Overall, it has been an outstanding walleye opener. Volume has been strong and we finished the week with 45 walleyes over 27 in., including 13 – 28’s, and 3 – 29’s. The warm water temps and advanced spring had us fishing walleyes on both “typical spring” and “early transition” spots. We have even found a few fish scattered on main lake structure. The most productive presentations were 1/8 and ¼ oz. jigs and minnows in 8 – 12 ft, though we did have active bites where Gulp Alive minnows and twister tails pitched shallow were extremely effective.

The down side of an extremely early spring is that we missed the peak of the shallow water, big pike bite. We caught a few stragglers on the way out, but many of the big pike last week were caught on jigs by walleye anglers. For the week we had 17 over 37 in., including 1 – 40, 1 – 41, 1 – 42, and 1 over 43 in. For mid-summer, that would be a great week, but for opener, we expect to have 3 times those numbers. An early spring is great for operations, but not so good for big pike production.

Surprisingly, the smallmouth bass have not moved up shallow in force. We have caught a few pitching jigs for walleyes, but most have been incidental catch in 6 – 12 ft. while walleye fishing. It is my guess that the recent cool weather, slowed them down and with a cold and rainy 5 day forecast, they may slip back into a more normal spring pattern. I know better than to speculate in print about fish behavior, but that is the feeling that we have for the season right now. Today was rainy and cold with north winds and daytime temps falling into the low 40s. My fingers are just beginning to thaw out and tonight it feels a long way away from bass season.

Variable weather in Northwest Ontario is nothing new, but this year is different all around. It has been the most trouble free opener in memory. With the warm temps, buildings settled early, the road dried out quickly, guide training lasted for 3 weeks, and fish were biting everywhere. On top of that, demand for spots has increased to the point that the few dates left available for this summer are the result of one or two recent cancellations. We are always happy to talk to potential new guests, but we are even more concerned about sending our current guests home happy. And this year to date, it has been easy.

Most of the attention is on pike fishing right now, which leaves the few of us guiding walleye with lots of water and little information to work with at the moment. For the week we saw 5 walleye over 27 inches, all of which came before the front. Today things seemed to be turning around again, and although I did not see a fish over 27, we still managed to put 52 fish in the boat over 18 inches with 14 being between 24 and 26.5 inches. Not bad for 2 days post-front. I take this as a good sign that fall transition is on, and that fish are becoming more organized in both their behaviour and concentration. The primary depths shift back and forth between shallow (10-15) and mid depth (20-25ft). I continue to watch out for both, and presently I have little confidence in the deep bite (30+).

As for the pike fishing, I have to say ‘I told you so’. As soon as that front moved in we saw a sudden increase in the big pike numbers. Between the 2-3 boats targeting pike this week there were 13 pike over 37 inches, including a 39, 2-40s, a 41, and 2-42s. About half of those fish were raised during the heart of the cold front. Pike were primarily targeted by casting baits over standing weed-beds and working grassy bays with deep water nearby. Dave Suggitt (SWWL guide) also had considerable success by ‘tight-line’ trolling over big weed-beds – running spoons close behind the boat right overtop and through the weeds. In his words “you just run your baits about 10-15 ft behind the boat, right through the weeds, and then see pike blow-up right beside the boat on them… that’s what is so awesome about it, that you can see them hit”. Tactics like this can be a nice change of pace after hours of casting, and also cover water in a way that is more effective in certain situations.

We are coming down to the wire here with our last guided day on the 24th. Expect some big pike numbers to come in by the end of next week with the Rosenow group in camp for a good long stay. Keep a-tune and we’ll let you know what we can raise in the next 8 days. Personally, I can’t wait for a monster to be caught, as there is no doubt they are out there and the conditions are only getting better.

That’s it for this week folks. Thanks for reading and for following, and I hope to see you up here soon.

Jesse Wright

Senior Guide

Silver Water Wheel Lodge

For the week we had 10 walleyes over 27 inches. Most of them came up before the cold front moved in. Only today did we finally see some larger fish returning to out spots, with a number of 26s and a 27 caught out of the 30 foot range. For the most part, the walleye bite has been steady off both the big sand structures and off the deep rock, and we saw our volume increased substantially this week. The daily guide sheets averaged around 35 walleyes per day, and a few days the guys managed to fill the back of their sheets (60 fish over 18 inches!). The highest volume day produced 82 fish over 18 inches, which is as good as you can get – whether it be the early spring or mid-summer bite. Averaged depths remained steady around 30 ft. but we are seeing a trend towards fish feeding in the 20-25 foot range as well. In general the most success was seen fishing localized pods of fish with a jig and minnow, and less production came by moving fast with gulp.

The pike fishing has also been great. We saw 10 pike over 37 inches this week, with 3-38s, 1-39, 1-40, and 1-41. The warm weather has put a stall on the giant fall pike moving into their typical spots, but we are managing to keep up our numbers up by targeting main lake points that have both rock and weeds, and other suitable structure that is adjacent to deep water. We are also targeting existing primary weed-beds that remain intact, and usually manage to produce plenty of action as well as decent fish in the 30 -35 inch rage consistently. But again, we are all still holding our breath for the next turn in weather, and anticipating the arrival of the true Lac Seul giants to come roaming in for the fall feed.

From a personal note, I feel as confused as some of those big walleye must feel with these extended summer conditions in the place of what is usually our most temperamental season. It was clear that fall went on pause this week, even the trees lost their momentum in changing colour. I saw fish surfacing and jumping all day today, basking on top in the sun. I saw an eagle grab one right off the top, and I was reminded what an incredible wilderness we have up here, what an amazing fishery we are fishing on, and what a great job guiding is (especially when the weather is like this!).

That’s all for this week folks. Hope the week is treating you well and look forward to seeing you soon!

Jesse Wright

Senior Guide

Silver Water Wheel Lodge

The team has shrunk to its final skeleton state, about 8 of us now (plus a celebrity guide appearance from Graham Coulombe who is in camp for the week). We have equally divided ourselves between the bear hunt, walleye fishing, and pike fishing. The bear hunters have been doing well, and this week there was a new SWWL record bear brought in that tipped the scales at well over 400 lbs. Some guys have been pike fishing in the afternoons when the walleye bite becomes tough. As for me, I am plugging away at the walleye fishing with some of my favourite hardcore guests – Bill J. and Joel.

For the week we had 13 walleye over 27, with 11-27’s, 1-28, and 1 huge 30 inch walleye. Those big fish numbers line-up well when considering the angling effort, about 1/3 of the guided days we have at our peak times. The best walleye bites were still coming off of deep sand and rock, and average depths were anywhere from 20 – 35 ft. Some of our local A spots are still steady and reliable, while others seem to be vacant. Again, another sign that fish are on the move. Hopefully that transition will come easily and we’ll be stacking fish in shallow water and hunting monsters out deep.

The pike fishing has had consistent attention this week, with 2-3 guides working most afternoons on hunting down a big one. Again there is plenty of pike action to be found out there, and consistent mid-30s getting caught by anyone slinging baits, but the big ones are doing a lot of following and not a lot of committing. Reports of monster pike being seen and raised are encouraging, and soon we should see that big pike explosion we are all waiting for. Pike numbers for the week include 3-37s and one monster 42.5.

That’s all for now folks! Hope your week is well and to see you soon!

Jesse Wright

Senior Guide

SWWL

Some rather blustery conditions limited our ability to charge around in the big water this week, but we still managed to keep up our big fish numbers, although volume suffered a bit. For the week we had 28 walleyes over 27 in. including 7 – 28s, 1 – 29, and one monster 30. Guide sheets averaged around 25 walleye over 18 in. per day. Those big fish numbers are impressive considering there were only 5-6 guides on the water each day.

The big gulp bite is still working as a pattern to produce good fish, but more success was seen with a ‘geared down approach’ on the windy days. Averaged depths were normal for late summer on Lac Seul, with the majority of good bites occurring in 20-35 ft., and the deeper rock bite (30-35ft.) turning a noticeable amount of the bigger fish. It does feel like fish are beginning to be on the move a bit, and with some of the weed beds beginning to die off, we are watching out for shallow pulses of fish that have historically occurred in past fall seasons.

The big pike fishing is on the cusp as well. Lots of big follows this week and consistent mid-30s fish are being turned on days when pike are being targeted. For the week we saw 5 pike over 37 in. with 1 – 40, 1 – 41, and 1 – 42. That being said, there are a lot of pike still deep and being caught incidentally while walleye fishing. Soon there will be monsters-a-plenty in the shallows, and the boys will be slinging away.

My lesson of the week occurred when fishing with Al and Babs Debes. Former resort owners on Leech Lake and very experienced walleye anglers, they taught me a few important things, most notably that I am a spoiled Lac Seul fishing guide. When I suggested we change spots after only catching 5 fish for the sheet in about an hour, they looked at me with (wise) surprise and said, “Jesse, this is not slow. This is fantastic!” Soon after that, Al managed to catch his personal best walleye of his life – a monster 27.5 that outweighed most 29s I have seen. As guides we sometimes forget what an incredible fishery we are on and begin to take for granted what we manage to produce day in and day out.

That’s all for this week folks. Thanks for checking in and we hope to see you up here soon!

Jesse Wright

Senior Guide

SWWL

It was another week with holes in the schedule. There were 59 guided days this week with an average of 9 guides on the water each day. The openings did allow us to have friends and family join us at the lodge to celebrate my parent’s 50th Wedding Anniversary. It was great to see everyone.

The “big jig Gulp Alive” pattern still produced good walleyes this week, but there were more conditions that called for lighter jigs and minnows. Most walleyes were caught between 20 and 35 ft. Both main lake sand and rock were productive. For the week we had 40 walleyes over 27 in., including 3 – 28s, and 2 – 29s. Guide reports averaged just a little over 30 walleyes per boat over 18 in. per day.

There was very limited effort put into pike fishing this week, but that will all change very soon. Nights are cool, surface temps are dropping down into the high 60s, and the weed beds are starting to fall apart. This past week’s high winds tore up some weed beds and there are random pieces floating around in the lake right now. There are still a few spots available for small groups looking to book a trip to chase big pike the first two weeks of Sept.

I am looking forward to seeing a full recap of the final stats for the year. The one trend that I know is going to be prominent is the extraordinary number of 23 – 25 inch walleyes caught during the 2011 season. The other significant change this past summer is the development and refinement of our “Big Jig and Gulp Alive Crazy Legs Jerk Shad” pattern fished at speed down deep. This technique has dramatically improved our search speed and allowed us to effectively study much, much more water than when we relied primarily on electronics to find and dead stick fish on the graph. The bottom line is, the more tools we have and the more comfortable a guide staff is at using them, the easier it is for us to figure out what the fish are doing when they change up their patterns and locations. I credit the consistent number of weeks with 30 or more walleyes over 27 in. across the 2011 season to SWWL guide crew team work and performance. It has been a great fishing year and we look forward to 2012.

I will be chasing muskies with good buddy and Guide Ben Beattie on the East side of Lac Seul on my way home to Iowa. I will be guiding deer hunts for the next 3 months and then we will be right back to SWWL bookings and shows. Until next year…. MW – Gone South!

We had another round of serious cancellations this week. In fact, I only had 56 guide sheets this week, which means that there was an average of 7 guides on the lake instead of 13. Despite the decreased pressure, production remained very strong. I did not find my share of big walleyes this week, but the boys made up for me with 30 over 27in., including 4-28s. Volume was very good with guide sheets averaging 40 walleyes over 18 in. per day. The highest daily total was 56.

We have continued to rely heavily on the 5 in. Gulp Alive Crazy legs Jerk shad with ½ – ¾ oz. jigs pulled fast in deeper water. It is a great search system when you have a few active walleyes spread out on a flat and it also helps to locate pods of walleyes. We may only pick up one or two with the big plastics, but we can mark the group and go back and work that spot over with lighter jigs and minnows. The most difficult time for guides to locate fish is when they are moving back and forth between shallower or deeper locations. This system saves hours of search time and gets us on big walleyes fast whether they are active or not.

Years ago when we were in the middle of a huge big walleye peak, I failed to point out to my groups that we were experiencing an anomaly that would not continue into the future. For the tenth time this week, I have been told how surprised guests were by the number of 23+ inch walleyes we see every day. When a guide boat catches 15 walleyes over 24 inches in one day it should shock people. It does not faze SWWL guides. They appreciate it and understand that it is awesome, but it is happening more and more often these days.

There was very little effort spent chasing big pike this week, but Bob Ernst did chase down a giant 42.75 in. giant on a Poppa doc spoon.

Nights have been cooling down into the 50s this week and there has been fog on the lake the last 2 mornings in a row. Water temps are just starting to cool by a few degrees, and there is just a hint of Fall on the way.

Overall, it was another very stable and strong week for walleye fishing on the southern main lake basins of Lac Seul. We had a few wimpy showers, but we are still incredibly dry and are still seeing smoke on the water every other day. The fires continue to burn to the north and you can see the dry conditions beginning to affect the forest, especially on the islands. The trees close to the water line are starting turn yellow and the grasses on the granite slopes are also starting fade.

There were some minor changes in the weather, but it almost feels like the smoky conditions have had a dampening effect on the dramatic weather shifts. There were a couple of tough bites on a few of the afternoons, but overall, the walleye fishing was very good for both size and numbers. We continued to see very high numbers of 22 – 25 in. walleyes again this week. Even though we had 3 cabin spots open this week due to cancellations and many guides off the water, we still managed to catch and release 37 walleyes over 27 in., including 2 – 28s. Walleye volume continued to be very good with guide sheets reporting an average of 35 walleyes over 18 in. per boat per day.

Usually at this time of year 95% of our walleyes are caught using ¼ ounce jigs tipped with minnows. Occasionally we would gear down to 1/8s for really difficult fish and “dead stick them.” We did catch fish with jigs and minnows this week, but we also did very well again with big jigs and plastics on deep sand flats. Years ago, we would have fished bouncers and harnesses to chase these walleyes, but recently we have had better overall success with ½ – ¾ oz. jigs and 5 in. Gulp Alive crazy legs jerk shads. With this big bait you can cover water quickly to locate active fish while you are watching your graph and locating pods of less aggressive fish that you can go back to and work with smaller jigs and minnows later. It is just another very efficient technique that we have been working on over the course of the season and now we are comfortable fishing this system down to 30 ft. and deeper. Many of our big walleyes this week were caught on the big plastics.

There was very little effort put into chasing big pike this week and when we did, results were very modest.

Of Note:

Wendi and Keith Dickerson brought their boys Josh and Logan up for the first time to fish with us this week. Every one caught at least a 27 in. walleye and Josh and Logan each caught their personal best walleye at 27.5 in.

Both deep water sand and deeper water rock produced equally well this week and the most consistent depths were 18 – 32ft. You can still find a few fish in shallow water, but the vast majority of our production came from the main lake basins. Jigs and minnows produced most fish, but the guides have also successfully been experimenting with big jigs and plastics moving fast in deep water. Tipped with minnows, we primarily used ¼ oz. and occasionally dropped down to 1/8 oz. jigs for stubborn fish marked on the graph. But especially on the deep water sand flats, jigs in 3/8 to ½ oz. or more worked well when backtrolled at .5 – .8 mph with 5 in. Gulp Alive crazy legs jerk shads in white. This presentation just looks like a smelt and the big profile often triggers bigger fish. Chuck Willmott caught his personal best walleye at 28 in. “dredging” the sand with a big jig and a “crazy legs Gulp.”

For the week we caught and released 35 walleyes over 27 in., including 6- 28s. Volume was very good with guide sheets reporting an average of 35 walleyes over 18 in. per boat per day. The highest daily total was 62. As we have moved into deeper water, we are seeing an increase in the number of medium to large walleyes. There were a total of 272 walleyes over 25 in. caught and released last week. Many boats had strong catches for walleyes over 24 in. and the highest daily total was 20. Overall, it was a very good walleye fishing week.

There was very little pike fishing effort and we ended the week with just one big one at 42 in.

The Kicker:

Guest: You got a good one?

Guide: No, just a little one.

Guest: Where I come from, an 18 – 21 inch slot walleye is Not a Little one.

By Saturday we were well into a heat wave with over 100 wildfires burning north of the lodge. The first half of the week was dominated by light winds, blazing sunshine, day time highs over 90 degrees and humidity index values over 100. There were days with light north winds that blanketed the area with smoke. I have never seen smoke on the lake so thick that it reduced visibility to less than ¼ of a mile. Guides navigated by GPS. Water bombers flew almost every day. We were on a severe thunder storm watch on Wednesday, and we spent the day ready to go to shore, but every storm that built up went north, south, or just blew itself out. About 30 drops of rain hit the lodge and the front went through that night dry. The weather forecast for Thursday neglected to mention that the wind was going to blow 30 – 40 mph all day. And finally today it felt like September as north winds and a low cloud deck settled in with a few showers. We have shut all of the windows in the lodge and we lit fires in cabins tonight for guests. The low tonight is forecast to be in the high 40s. It really feels like September and yet the fire ban is still in effect. If this paragraph was tough to follow, then think what it did to the walleyes.

Walleye fishing is most challenging when the fish are spread out and the bite is off. We began the week smashing large numbers of walleyes, including big ones, in the shallows. Depths ranged from 4 – 12 ft. and sand flats in front of cabbage weed beds were the key. Saturday through Wednesday, the deep water sand and rock were absolutely empty of forage and walleyes. Everything was either suspended in the top 10 ft. or in the shallows. Everything changed when the weather broke. You could see the baitfish on your graph spread out and mix through the entire water column. Shallow water sand flats that held enough walleyes to keep several boats busy all day emptied and produced fewer than 1 fish per hour. We found some walleyes moving out to deep water sand flats on breaks between 20 – 25 ft. with ¼ oz. jigs and minnows, there were semi-suspended fish caught on wind blown rock sand transitions in 14 – 20 ft. moving quickly (.5 to 1 mph) with big jigs and gulp, and there were still a few walleyes caught on shallow water spots (8 – 12 ft.) as long as the wind was blowing. The shallow fish changed activity levels quickly and would prefer triggering type baits like fast plastics at times, but then later on that day in the same spot, you would have to gear down to light jigs and minnows to scratch a few out. To consistently catch fish this week, you had to shift gears and aggressively hunt dramatically different water with various presentations all day, every day.

Despite the challenging and changing conditions, the guide crew managed to stay on fish and to turn surprisingly good results. For the week, we caught and released 45 walleyes over 27 in., including 9 – 28s. Guide sheets averaged 35 walleyes over 18 in. per boat per day and the highest daily total was 68.

There were a few groups that spent time chasing big pike this week with mixed results. The big pike caught were found primarily on main lake weedbeds closer to deeper water. There were 3 – 41s caught this week and Don Holton caught his personal best at 44 inches.

The Kicker:

At a check out last night, a guest asked me what I was going to say in this week’s fishing report and I gave him a brief description of what is written above.

Guest response: “Wow, we didn’t think it was that tough… our guides just kept moving until we found the next bunch of fish…. It was great.”

The walleyes began the week on shallow sand and as we ended the week, we found many groups of fish moving deeper onto main lake summer sand structure. I would say that we are still in a transitional phase as there are still many walleyes in 8 – 14 ft. of water. It is significant to note that the percentage of small fish is increasing in the shallows and the big fish are increasing in the 18 – 30 ft. zone. When the fish were shallow and aggressive, the Gulp bite was strong, but as the bigger walleyes have moved deeper, it has become more of a ¼ oz. jig and minnow bite.

For the week, we had 24 walleyes over 27 in., including 4 – 28s. Guide sheets averaged around 40 walleyes over 18 in. per boat per day. The highest daily total was 76. With very high temps forecast for the coming week, it is a 50/50 guess as to whether the walleyes will trend deeper onto main lake sand or reverse course and head back to shallow water and the deep side of the weed beds. We will aggressively plan to check both.

The big pike bite was good for the week, but inconsistent for patterns. The big fish were caught from cabbage weeds on main lake points, transition bays, and we still caught some big ones in what would be considered deeper water spring time locations. Spoons and big in line spinners worked best through the weeds. For the week we had 17 over 37 in., including 2 – 40s, 2 – 41s, 2 – 42s, and 1 – 43.

The Kicker:

Guest: Mike, we had our best walleye fishing ever….. We had 24 walleyes over 24 in. in one day.

MW: That’s awesome big fish action… I just wish I had all of my guides on the water.

The Bass really are winding down as the week is ending, but we still managed to boat 82 over 17 in., including 5 – 19s, and 1 – 20. Tubes and topwater were first and second choice baits. The official end of bass season happens when we start to catch bass on main lake transition spots and that began on Thursday.

We had a few groups arrive this week that came in with the intention to chase big pike. The guides lobbied to fish for big walleyes, but were talked into hunting gators. The guides spread out and searched summer, transition, and spring spots and we were surprised to find many big pike in the big weed beds on the outside of spring locations. What was even more surprising is that some of the biggest walleyes of the week were caught from these same weed beds on big spoons and big in-line spinners in 4 – 6 ft. of water. For the week, we had 25 pike over 37 in, including 4 – 40s, 1 – 42, and 2 – 43s.

Last year at this time we were fishing walleyes on deep main lake sand structure in 20 – 30 ft. of water. We checked those locations many times this week and came up blank every time. The weather has been warm, sunny and nice and the walleyes have been consistently shallow. There have been pulses with fish into 2 – 4 ft., but most of the bigger walleyes were caught out of 8 – 14. Big plastics were huge this week and often outperformed live minnows. Gulp Alive Minnows in 4 in. and 5 in. Crazy Legs jerk shads were the top producers. When the walleyes are in super shallow, they tend to be very aggressive and there was no need to slow play light jigs for most of the week. Jigs in ¼ to 3/8 with plastics were most productive when the fish were snapping and 1/8 oz. jigs with minnows fished slow turned fish when the bite was off. For the week we had an unbelievable 49 walleyes over 27 in., including 4 – 28s, and 4 – 29s.

The Kicker: The incredible fishing this week was tempered by the fact that I had one group cancel for this past week and 3 other groups cancel for later July and Aug. It is just a shame to have some of the best fishing of the year squandered with idle guides and an empty cabin or two. If you would like to fish with us just once or be part of our many return groups for years to come, Now is the time to give us a call or email.